WestcoastPete wrote:Bikes to fit would be the go. I think they're open on Sundays; might be wise to ring before you need to rely on it though...

Thanks.

For those interested Green Oil is distributed in Australia by Rucsac Supplies. $24.95 for 100 ml ex their website + $5.00 postage or $6.98 + postage if applicable from Wiggle and $7.20 + postage at CRC.

Found a bottle of Finish LIne Wet lubricant this evening and noticed that it is not flammable. Interesting Finish Line's dry and wax lubricants are with the exception of their Ceramic Wax lube. Anyway maybe another option in terms of flying or one could repackaging one's preferred lube in a Finish LIne Wet lubricant bottle .

I tried to mount my new Tubus Nova rack to my VWR today with only limited success.

It mounted nice and secure, but due to the disc brake mech on the left side it seems to prevent the rack from being mounted nice and level. See pics:

No pannier bags, note sloping angle of front rack:

With pannier bags:

Close up:

Has anyone else managed to find a way of making this work? I know most other people have the Tubus Duo lowrider rack instead, which seems be mount nicely after a bit of mucking around (as per the special mounting instructions that cam with the bike). Surely there's a way to get the Nova mounted? I'm thinking that if I cut off the mounting point circled in red in the pic below that is catching on the brake mech this will allow the rack to move forward more and level it out? Of course considering it is a new and expensive rack making any permanent modifications to it would be the absolute last resort.

Any advice or help would be appreciated. Maybe I should just leave it as is? I won't be carrying much weight in the front bags anyway. Both the rack and pannier bags are fitted securely like they are.

elStado wrote:Surely there's a way to get the Nova mounted? I'm thinking that if I cut off the mounting point circled in red in the pic below that is catching on the brake mech this will allow the rack to move forward more and level it out? Of course considering it is a new and expensive rack making any permanent modifications to it would be the absolute last resort.Maybe I should just leave it as is? I won't be carrying much weight in the front bags anyway. Both the rack and pannier bags are fitted securely like they are.

Consider that the Duo also requires modifications to make it fit, the only difference between your rack and the Duo is that there are fitting instructions for the latter. FWIW seeing what a PITA it was to install, i bought the duo with the bike so the bike shop had to do the work of getting it on instead of me However, I then promptly removed it anyhow (heavy, ugly, not needed by me most of the time), but it's there if i ever need the front rack. If i were you, leave it as you have it already; it works. You may persuade yourself that having bags tilted slightly to the rear will help offset any forward movement of said bags during heavy braking.. Otherwise go to town on the rack, that's what vivente themselves have suggested for the duo

I'm actually interested however in the mirror you have mounted. is that attached directly to the STI lever? what is it?

Not that it is much help to you elStado but the bloke that put my bike together fitted a Tektro IOX brake caliper instead of the supplied Shimano one. The Tektro caliper fitted without having to bend the Duo to fit around it. Might be worth considering, assuming the Tektro worked with your rack. Maybe you could do a swap with the shop that supplied the bike. I noticed on the VWR site (Technical>Mechanics Corner>Front Rack Mounting...) that they have demonstrated fitting the rack around an Avid BB7 caliper and it appears to fit without any rack modifications, but then again they are using the Duo. Cable activated calipers aren't overly expensive perhaps another type might work. Otherwise I'd just cut that piece of offending bracket off if it isn't needed for mounting or structural purposes. Ideally the panniers should sit level.

Don't worry elStado that particular rack is a pain in the arse, the broad crossbar is blocking my ability to use a quick release skewer so I'm currently using an allen head skewer that came with my SON hub...

hooliowobbits wrote:I'm actually interested however in the mirror you have mounted. is that attached directly to the STI lever? what is it?

It's a Mirrycle STi Road Mirror. I'm pretty happy with it, however it does vibrate a bit on bumpy surfaces, the mount is a bit delicate and it makes field repairs diffuclt as you can't flip the bike upside down without removing it first. It only takes about 2 minutes to remove/install once you're familiar with it, but still, a bit annoying. on the plus side it looks good, has a nice big area with clear vision and it is easy to switch sides so you can use it in different countries.

I won't need a front rack for anything other than touring, which will not be a common daily event as opposed to my rear rack that I get use from literally every day (hence less of a need for stainless steel with the front rack). Maybe I should sell the Tubus Nova and buy a cheaper Duo instead, before making any permanent modifications?

I leave in four weeks, plenty of time to buy another front rack and get it fitted.

Does the frame have double-sided mounts on the upper fork? Necessary for the Duo.

Strange that he says the frame is designed for the Duo. Two friends I know of in my club have the VWR, with Tubus Tara fitted and no problem like you have. They do both have a larger frame than yours, but this shouldn't affect the fork geometry.

il padrone wrote:Does the frame have double-sided mounts on the upper fork? Necessary for the Duo.

Yep they sure do, hence why it's currently the de facto choice for VWR. However they are oging to have Avid BB7 disc brakes (I wish the current model had them actually) on future models as apparently they give more clearance for racks like the Nova/Tara.

Strange that he says the frame is designed for the Duo. Two friends I know of in my club have the VWR, with Tubus Tara fitted and no problem like you have. They do both have a larger frame than yours, but this shouldn't affect the fork geometry.

Could you have a look at where/how they have mounted their racks next time you see them? Get a pic or two of each side of the fork. I'm sure there must be a way. However i just had a look at the Tara design and it is quite different to the Nova and Ergo designs, it doesn't have that chunky lower attachment section and would be easier to bend to fit I would imagine.

Due

Tara

Ergo

Nova

I've already got a 5mm spacers and two 1mm washes on each side of the fork where the rack is mounted, so I don't want to bend the rack out any further to get the clearance past the brake mech. But maybe it is possible? The Tubus racks are fairly strong and able to be manipulated quite a bit. I know my rear rack had plenty of flex in it to get it mounted on my Orbea which has very fat chainstays which required about 10mm of spacers/washers on each side to get clearance and level the rack.

A 5mm spacer is pretty standard on all Tubus front racks to get clearance from the fork blades, all of our racks have it. So I would not worry too much about overdoing it with this. If push comes to shove you could simply cold-set it to a wider spacing, as I had to do for the rear Cargo rack on my tandem - widened it about 20mm for the 145mm OLN rear end. Being cromoly this is of no harm, unlike with an alloy rack.

Hrrm. I just tried to fit my new Ortlieb Ultimate 5 bar bag which turned out to not be fun. Some how the bag managed to stuff up my rear derailleur so now when I pedal it crunches and makes all sorts of noise. I think this is because the bag is quite large and got in the way of the derailleur cables coming out of the levers. I've spent the last 30 minutes trying to adjust the cables to get it working properly with no luck. I was planned to go on a mini-tour tomorrow morning but this has thrown a spanner in the works. It's really cold outside so not a good time to be trying to adjust the bike. Looks like I'll have to scrap my test tour due to mechanical issues before it has even begun I was really looking forward to it too. (ED: As it happens Mainpeak also accidentally sent me a small mattress instead of a medium that I had ordered, i only just realised last night after picking it up yesterday afternoon. So it's probably for the best I had to postpone the trip).

For others out there, don't bother with a large sized bar bag with the STI version of the VWR. It's a pain in the backside. I should have listened to the advice I was given and gotten the smaller bar bag. I don't need 7L worth of capacity anyway, I just need to hold a bit of food and my personal items.

ED: I re-set the derailleur today and checked all the adjustment settings and cable tension. I managed to get it all back in order again. I re-installed the bar bag and it is still working so I am hoping that it just caused bit of stretch of the RD cable due to being bent out of the way to make room for the bag and won't be an issue from now on.

I also played around with the front rack and managed to get it set a bit better, the brake mech audibly taps on a part of the rack when depressing the lever in this configuration, but it doesn't interfere with the function of the brake so not a major issue. The rack actually can be bent outwards/inwards quite a bit to get a good clear fit on the forks. Such is one of the many benefits of a steel rack! here's tow configurations I played with:

Outer-outer = slight angle towards bike:

Inner-inner = slight angle away from bike:

The inner-inner looks better on the bike that it does in that photo, I think it's what I'll go with rather than mucking around with the Duo rack. Now I know how it is fitted it only takes 10-15 minutes to install/remove. I've taken the rack off again for now and will put it back on in a fortnight when hopefully I can try do my trip again with luck this time.

The Tara attaches in a similar manner to the Nova, so it probably still would have been difficult considering the disc mech on the VWR front wheel.

Plus the hoop will still obstruct the dynamo light too. The best rack right now for the VWR is the Tubus Duo. However this may change with next year's model as they are going to put Avid mech on it which has better clearance for the rack mounting.

elStado wrote:The Tara attaches in a similar manner to the Nova, so it probably still would have been difficult considering the disc mech on the VWR front wheel.

Plus the hoop will still obstruct the dynamo light too. The best rack right now for the VWR is the Tubus Duo. However this may change with next year's model as they are going to put Avid mech on it which has better clearance for the rack mounting.

I'm running lx vbrakes on the front (and back) of my VWR with a duo rack at the moment. Oddly enough it works pretty good.

I noticed that both Surly and Kona spec BB7's, thinking of trying them myself shortly.

Got to see one of these bikes in the flesh (steel?) in Fremantle yesterday.Not a bad looking machine.There was no prices on any of their bikes that I spotted but I was only in for a quick ganderso might have not been looking in the right places.

rifraf wrote:Got to see one of these bikes in the flesh (steel?) in Fremantle yesterday.Not a bad looking machine.There was no prices on any of their bikes that I spotted but I was only in for a quick ganderso might have not been looking in the right places.

As these bikes are niche products you are looking at full RRP plus shipping, unless you are able to really drive a hard bargain. I had no such luck. So you're looking at $1850-1950 depending on the configuration, plus $50 shipping.

I took my bike to Germany with a Ground Effect Tardis bag but unfortunately I mustn't have packed it correctly as when I re-assembled the bike at my destination both wheels were out of true, the rear wheel worse than the front. I had a spoke wrench on me but couldn't get it perfect, so had to leave it at a shop for a few days to get done properly at a cost of 15 euro per wheel. That was a bit of a bummer. I've been in Germany for a week now and the bike is only just ready to ride. Hopefully the rear derailer is OK too.

I've got the bike pretty decked out now though. I'll get some photos of it fully loaded and post them up later today. Going to go for a 20km test ride to make sure everything is attached and working correctly.

elStado wrote: I got back a couple of days ago after touring through Germany and France for 3 weeks.

I'm itching to know how the tour went. Hurry up and tell us!!!In particular, the Vivente. How did you find the gearing range? Was 26 - 32 low enough for the hills?Got tons of questions, maybe for another thread.

Any questions directly related to the Vivente World Randonneur, please feel free to ask here.

In relation to the gearing, with ~15kg worth of bike and another ~15kg worth of gear I found that I was struggling up steeper/longer hills even with the lowest gear. One day we tackled around 8 hills which weren't that high or long and we ended up having to walk most of them as it was too exhausting with the fully loaded bike. Without the gear I have only had to walk up one particularly steep hill so far for about 100m before sucking it up and getting back on the bike to smash the rest. I think if you are touring with a fully loaded, self-sufficient touring rig you will need an even lower gearing to be able to spin comfortably up low-moderate hills. It's great fun though to bomb down the other side of the valley with all that extra weight.

This was taken just after a short but reasonably steep, winding and fun descent into the Rhone valley. Great fun. I felt like I was actively using my GoPro but in hindsight I also missed many good photo/video opportunities because I was always worried about depleting the battery or running out of space on the memory card. I'll be putting together a vid from the footage taken once I get home and have access to a more powerful computer than my netbook PC.

Generally I enjoyed the trip, met some great people and learnt a lot about cycle touring.. but there were also many issues that marred the trip that I will need to address before embarking on another tour in the future. I'll be editing my trip notes and updating my blog real soon now that I am temporarily back to civilisation.

On my few try-out loaded rides I have to admit the 26-32 combination makes for very hard work up any sort of hill.I've just ordered a 12-36 cassette (Shimano HG61) from Chain Reaction. $35.00 at the moment, not bad price.Am considering a 24t chainring, probably a steel Stronglight model. I'm just not sure that the Sugino chainring bolts will fit. Failing that I'll probably buy a Sugino 24t aluminium ring off Ebay. I do remember reading that aluminium granny gears wear very quickly so would prefer steel, just not sure of the Stronglight compatability. I wonder if all 74 BCD rings are a standard fit?

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